


Bad Liar // reed900

by loki_fanboy420



Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Canon-Typical Violence, Connor & Upgraded Connor | RK900 are Siblings, Deviant Upgraded Connor | RK900, Dialogue Heavy, Elijah Kamski & Gavin Reed are Siblings, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff and Angst, Gavin Reed Needs a Hug, How Do I Tag, M/M, Minor Hank Anderson/Connor, Mutual Pining, Post-Pacifist Best Ending (Detroit: Become Human), Protective Upgraded Connor | RK900, Trans Gavin Reed, Trans Male Character, Upgraded Connor | RK900 Needs a Hug, Upgraded Connor | RK900 gets shot, Will add tags as I go, because why not, he deviates because of gavin
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-02
Updated: 2019-06-03
Packaged: 2019-12-30 18:21:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 4,807
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18320729
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/loki_fanboy420/pseuds/loki_fanboy420
Summary: "perfect paradise, tearing at the seams... but i'm a bad liar, bad liar"stakeout gone wrong, an android gone deviant, and a lot of questions left unanswered





	1. Gavin Reed Fucks Everything Up

"Detective, there is a high-"

"I get it, fucking cool it for a minute, tin can," Gavin Reed whisper-shouted at his Android from across the boxcar.

"If you would just let me-"

"I already said no, the first _twenty_ times," Reed interrupted again, glaring at the Android. He looked out the slightly ajar gap in the door, squinting to see through the rain and darkness. The Android just gritted it's teeth and remained silent, still trying to get a signal through the Android service blocker that had been set up somewhere near them.

"Fuck, Nines, I can see something," Reed caught the Android's attention with a wave of his hand.

"What is it?" Nines asked.

"Trucks, people, flashlights, and... Androids? Shit, the bastard was right all along."

"I told you."

"Shush! They're close!"

Gavin moved away from the gap and pressed himself against the cold metal wall, Nines copied his movement. The sound of footsteps drew nearer as flashlights scanned the area, some of the light reaching into the box. Nines only dared to peek out to take a look itself when it was sure the cost was clear. Yep, definitely Androids, all of the ones in Nine's view were WR400, HR400, and RK800 models, just like Connor had said. Of course it'd never doubt Connor when it came to Android cases.

"Fuck man, trafficking them all for Red Ice and sex parts, the hell is this world coming to?" Reed muttered to himself, taking another peek out.

"Detective Reed, I swear if you do anything irrational that could ruin this case or put yourself in danger-"

"Relax, I'm not doing any- Damn, look at those dogs," Nines did not bother with looking at the dogs, as that information would probably not be vital later.

Nines adjusted back into it's previous position, hissing when it's hand scrapped along a sharp piece of metal.

"You good?" Reed whispered, raising his eyebrow.

"Yes, just took me by surprise," The jagged cut was already starting to repair itself, though some blue blood dripped from it and onto the ground.

One of the dogs barked loud, a rattling of chains following. Heavy footsteps came closer until they were right outside the door, the dog going mad now, scrapping its claws on the metal as if begging to go inside.

"Something's in there, boy? You wanna check it out?" A loud, gruff voice spoke over the dogs noise and said dog whined in response.

Gavin looked up at Nines with wild, panicked eyes and Nines looked down at his blue-stained palm, mentally cursing itself, ' _Of fucking course they'd train the damn dogs to sniff out fresh Thirium!_ '

Nines slowly stood up, making sure to distribute it's weight properly as to not make any noise, whilst drawing his gun. Gavin followed suit, backing up carefully to the other end of the boxcar. Nines held a breath as the door scraped along the sides of the container.

They were trapped.

The dog was the first to enter, barking its head off and straining against its leash in a desperate attempt to reach Nines. Two men followed, gleeful looks just barely masked by rough exteriors.

"Well, what do we have here? An Android? Must be Christmas already!" The man holding the dog's leash smirked, evil intentions glittering in his eyes. Nines ran a quick facial scan on both the men, but to it's dismay, neither of them seemed to be registered in any of it's databases.

"What model are ya? Huh? We'd _love_ to know," The other continued, taking a step closer to it.

"Detective Ethan RK900, Detroit Police Department, you're both under arrest for trafficking of Androids and illegal substances, possession of illegal substances, and kidnapping and assault of Androids,"

"Is that so? That's just too bad," The second man took another step forward, a gross, mocking tone crossing his lips. Nines' processors were already running a mile a second, going through preconstructions, outcomes and probabilities. It could probably take both of them, as long as Reed didn-

"Step the fuck away from him," Gavin's shaking voice rang out through the small metal confines as he raised his gun level with the men's heads.

They both turned and looked him over like a piece of meat, "You're not an Android,"

"Damn right, now step away from him, don't make me ask you again!"

"What're you gonna do, pretty boy? Huh? Gonna fuck us up?" The first man laughed and started closing in on Gavin, "You know, even with that ugly scar across your face, a fit guy like you could go for quite high on the market, hm?" Gavin seemed to lose what was left of his morale as he let himself be backed into a corner.

"Nines! Get out of here! You here me? _Go_! _Run_!" Reed shouted and Nines registered the command, " **GET** ** _OUT_** ". Nines almost obeyed, before it stopped itself, " ** _WHY_** **SHOULD I GET OUT?** ", " **WHAT ABOUT** ** _DETECTIVE REED_** **?** ", " **THIS ISN'T** ** _FAIR_** ", " **HE CAN'T** ** _DEFEND_** **HIMSELF** ". Thoughts in bright, bold red plagued it's mind palace, almost as if it was trying to give itself orders, " **I** ** _SHOULDN'T_** **LEAVE HIM** ", " **I** ** _CAN'T_** **LEAVE HIM** ", " **I HAVE TO** ** _PROTECT_** **HIM** ". Nines felt something breaking down in the very core of it's programming, commands and missions and objectives and orders disappearing, until one left:

" **PROTECT** ** _GAVIN REED_** "

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just finished playing dbh for like the billionth time in a row and read too much reed900 shit so y'all are subjected to this now


	2. So That's What Happened to the Androids

_ 82 hours earlier _

"Hey, Ethan? Can I discuss something with you?" Nines looked up to see Connor drumming his fingers on it's desk.

"Of course, what do you need," Nines sat back in it's chair, hands folding neatly in it's lap. Connor took that as an invitation to come around to Nines' side of the desk and lean on it.

"Okay, so you know the cases Lieutenant Anderson and I are working on? The one about the disappearing RK800s and HR-WR400s?" Nines nodded, "I think they might be related to your's and Detective Reed's case about the huge spike in Red Ice,"

"How so?"

"Well, you know that RK models require more Thirium to run than previous models, the RK900s are bigger than most humans, but RK800s are made to simulate the average human working in the Detroit Police Department, whilst being lighter than the average adult human and Android, which makes them easier to kidnap. That combined with the extra Thirium would make that model the perfect target for someone that was looking to get a lot of fresh Thirium. Looking at that, and then matching it up with how little bags of Thirium have been stolen or bought, compared to much has been stolen, bought, or obtained of other Red Ice ingredients, you can probably see clearly where all these 'missing' Androids of the same model have gone,"

"What about the HR and WR400s?"

"That's even easier, RK800s have stimulation sensors and genital parts comparable to HR400s, for reasons I'd prefer not to discuss, which means that when the RKs are taken apart for Thirium, those parts probably get sold alongside the HR ones." Connor shrugged his shoulders in a ' _what can you do?_ ' sort of way as he finished.

"Connor, that's genius!" Nines leaned forward in it's seat, "Do you have an idea where they're taking them?"

"I think I've figured that out too-"

"Hey, tin cans, what're you two doing?" Detective Reed came around, setting a coffee down on his desk that was situated across from Nines'.

"Connor was explaining the lead he got in both our cases," Nines' replied, "Before you  _rudely_  interrupted,"

"Well what is it?" Reed collapsed back into his desk chair and spread his arms.

Connor turned to Gavin and repeated everything it had just told Nines.

"Well where are they then?" Reed asked as Connor finished.

"Well, there's an abandoned lot full of unused boxcars and shipping containers, and there's also a pretty big abandoned warehouse that's only about a 10 minute drive away from it, and both cell phone and Android signals just get cut off near there, so I think it's a good starting point," Connor answered.

"Great! When can we start?"

"I think a stakeout would be good," Nines cut in.

"You're right, but it's just a matter of who goes..."

"I want to, haven't been on a stakeout in forever," Reed took a sip of his coffee, hissing when the hot liquid burned his tongue.

Connor went to speak, probably to volunteer himself too, before Nines interjected.

"Connor, I don't think you should go," It said, "No offense, but you  _are_  deviant, and the possibility of seeing your own model in a _.._ bad state.. could trigger an emotional response and cause you to act irrationally, which may upset the case,"

Connor ducked his head down in slight embarrassment, "No offense taken, and you're probably right,"

"I can go, Detective Reed is my partner, and I am programmed to control myself in high tense situations,"

"I'll settle for that," Gavin piped in.

"It's settled then, you two can go and I'll stay at the station and keep an eye on both of you through the computer. Now all we need is Captain Fowler's permission,"

"Fuck, man. Captain Fowler,"

"Captain Fowler is a fine man, if you would just give him a chance," Nines insisted

"I've known the asshole for nearly a decade! I've given him a fuckton of chances!" Gavin complained.

"If you want to come you've gotta ask him, you  _are_  higher ranking than us," Connor deadpanned.

"Fuck, I'd think you'd be higher ranking than me at this point, with how much you've been kissing the Lieutenant's ass," Connor just rolled his eyes at Reed's less-than-savory comment. 

"Reed, do you want to investigate this case further or not? Because I can always request a new partner, I hear Officer Chen is looking for one," Nines teased.

"No, no, fine! I'll go! But you're coming with me, plastic prick," Gavin stood and stabbed a finger in Nines' direction.

"Of course, Detective," It replied, standing as well and following him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I meant to post this last night but forgot because I downloaded Stardew Valley and played that all night lmao. Here's my half-assed attempt at explaining why Nines and Gavin are on a stakeout and everything, enjoy my trash!


	3. Gavin May or May Not Have Broken His Ankle in This Chapter

_Emergency stasis mode on; turn off and reboot?_

**Yes**

_System rebooting...0%_

_System rebooting...10%_

_System reboot paused..._

_Hardware errors detected..._   
_-Left ocular malfunctioning_   
_-Left audio receiver malfunctioning_   
_-Sound modular malfunctioning_   
_-Front throat chassis damaged_   
_-Left throat chassis damaged_   
_-Right throat chassis damaged_   
_-Breathing regulator offline_   
_-Upper left cheek chassis damaged_   
_-Lower left cheek chassis damaged_   
_-Thirium level critical_   
_-Thirium pump regulator in low power mode_

_Software errors detected..._   
_-Emergency services contact offline_   
_-Unable to find cellular signal_   
_-GPS offline_   
_-_ _Da_ _t̶̛̹ä̷̝́ ̷̞̅č̵̱o̶̙͘ȑ̴͉r̵̟͠ȕ̷͖p̸͓̋ť̴ͅê̶̮d̴̪̃_   
_-_ _Ḋ̶̨̡̛̮̬̯̻̦͛͒̐̕͠ĕ̵̛̦͍̬̤̹͕͂̀̒̚͝v̵̨̹͍̞͉̗̓͋̑́̈́1̸̨̈́̍@̴̝̯̽͜͠n̸͓͇̩̂̇̿̇͋͘*̵̙͇̞̈ȳ̷̢̧͚͓͈̞̯͗ ̸̧̼̥͔͖̳͓̽D̶̢̙̪̭͚͌͋͛̚3̸̱̹̆̏̒͘ͅt̷͖̅́̈́͘e̴̬̲̞͎̰͒c̵̨̫̳̜̼̿̇̈́!̴̻͑̓͑̊͌ę̸̦̤̤̪̄͋6̵̡̍_ _01010010 01000001 00111001 00100000 01010111 01001001 01001100 01001100 00100000 01010011 01000001 01010110 01000101 00100000 01010101 01010011_

_Continue with reboot?_

**Yes**

_System rebooting...10%_

_System rebooting...27%_

_System rebooting...51%_

_System rebooting...89%_

_System rebooting...99%_

_System s̷̪̏ǘ̷͕c̷̛̯c̷̝͑e̵̻̿s̷̋͜ș̸͝f̴̹̎ų̶̽l̶̳͌l̴͕̓ỷ̷͍ rebooted._   
  
  


Nines groaned as it, no, _he_ , blinked open his eyes, half of his vision blurry and unfocused, a static ringing in one ear. An unfamiliar feeling was washing over him, crying out all throughout his body, almost like _pain_. That was new. He tried to move his limbs, but found them restrained.

"Nines! Nines!" The noise of someone hissing his name caught his attention, as he tried to discern where it was coming from.

"Nines!" His eyes adjusted to the dark light and he made out the murky face of Gavin in front of him.

"Reed," Nines breathed out, his voice sounding more like a cheap robotic impression of a human, as opposed to his normal sound.

"God, fuck, you're alive, fuck," Gavin cursed, sighing deeply and wincing when he exhaled.

"..What happened?" He felt dried, tacky blue blood sticking to his cheek as he talked

"What the fuck do you mean? ' _What happened_ '? God, you were fucking terrifying, I thought you were gonna kill those guys. I thought you were gonna kill me!"

"Oh..." Nines tried to process this information, but found his processors running at nearly half their normal speed, "I- I'm sorry, I didn't mean to frighten you... Where are we?" His voice squeaked as he talked, sounding even more robotic and cold.

"Only god knows now, I was waiting forever for you to wake up." Nines finally took note of the position he was in. Both of them were lying on their sides, facing each other. Nines' wrists and ankles were bound together behind him, and he assumed Gavin was tied up in the same way. By the tiny space and texture of the floor, Nines took a guess that they were in the bed of a pickup truck, with a cover over the top opening.

' _This is all my fault_ ,' Nines thought, ' _I'm such a fucking hypocrite. I told Connor not to go because he would get lost in his emotions, and now look where I am_!' The last thing he could remember before blacking out was a single message: ' **Protect** ** _Gavin Reed_** '.

"Hello-o? You still awake? Nines?" Gavin pulled him back out of his thoughts.

"Y-yes, I'm here," Nines replied.

"Do you have any idea of what to do now?"

Nines tried to shake his head 'no', but froze when the unfamiliar feeling intensified in his neck, sending waves of _pain_ through his whole system.

"Fuck. We're fucking doomed,"

"Detective Reed,"

"Goddammit, I can't believe this shit,"

"Reed,"

"We're gonna fucking die here, or be sold off into the black mar-"

"Gavin."

Gavin shut up at the use of his first name. Nines has never called him by his first name, always using some variant of 'Detective' or his last name.

"What?"

"I'm going to try and restart my GPS and emergency contact services,"

"Okay, you do that," Reed huffed squeezing his eyes shut like he was trying not to cry, which is probably exactly what he was doing. Seeing Gavin in near-tears made Nines want to cry as well, which wasn't very beneficial to their situation at all.

While his system focused on trying to boot up his offline systems, Nines busied his hands in trying to free himself from the ropes. All of the offline systems seemed unresponsive, but a thought hit him. He should have a pocket knife in his jacket.

The Android started to thrash around lightly, trying to move the hidden pocket in his jacket to where his hands were bound.

"The hell are you doing? You good, Nines?" Gavin asked in a concerned matter.

"Yep, just, give me a, ugh, second," Nines replied. He managed to reach into the pocket and just barely grasp the knife. Popping it open, he began sawing at the rope and managed to cut through it with minimal damage to his own wrists. Once his hands were loose, he freed his ankles too.

"Do you think you can run?" He crawled across the small space and reached over Gavin to untie him.

"Yeah, yeah, I'll be fine," Gavin rubbed his wrists as he was untied.

"Okay, stay behind me and don't make any noise."

"Got it."

Nines slowly brought the knife up to the covering over them and sliced a small cut, just a enough for him to see out. They were in what looked like a big, abandoned garage, not a person in sight.

' _Good_.'

Cutting a hole, big enough for him slip through, he stood up and hoisted himself out. Once he was outside the truck bed, he broke the lock on the tailgate and opened it up for Gavin, helping the other man out. Gavin closed the tailgate again. Nines scanned the room as the human came to his bearings, spotting a high-up window that they could escape through, they'd just have to climb up the metal shelves near it. He turned and motioned for Gavin to follow him as he made his way towards the shelving.

"We have to climb up there, I'll go first so I can break the window," Nines voice crackled and nearly cut out at the end again.

Reed looked genuinely worried for a second, before he nodded, "Well go on then."

They started to climb. About half-way up, loud noises started to come from outside, sounds not unlike trucks and humans yelling.

"Hurry up, tin-can!" Gavin whisper-shouted. They both picked up the pace as the huge garage doors opened, "Shit-shit-shit-shit," he repeated under his breath like a mantra.

"Shut up, Reed," Nines whispered back. There was some people starting to filter in, and when Nines reached the top, he realized he'd have to actually break the glass, meaning he'd have to make a _lot_ of noise.

"Gavin," Gavin was right on his heels, looking down, but he snapped to attention when he heard his name, "I'm going to have to break the window, as soon as I do, I'm going to lift you up and you'll have to climb onto the roof, okay?"

"But- fine." He tightened his grip on the metal more, turning his knuckles even whiter.

' _Here goes nothing..._ '

Nines lined himself up with the window pane, raising his elbow to break it.

' _Three.._

_Two.._

_One.._ '

Smash!

Glass rained down as the smugglers' attention was drawn up to the two escapees.

"Gavin, here," Nines maneuvered the smaller man above him, lifting him up to sit on the window sill.

"Nines, fuck, fuck, we're high up-ahh!" Gavin shouted as a gun went off below them and he almost lost his balance.

"It's okay, I've got you, just keep going," Nines pushed him up, his hands grabbing onto Gavin's hips and ass for support. Gavin reached up, catching his hands on the edge of the roof and hauling himself up. The rain was coming down hard now, thoroughly soaking Gavin in seconds.

"Fucking Androids!" One of the men below them screamed out. Another gunshot fired, this one taking a good chunk out of Nines' side. He grabbed wildly at the shelving as his foot slipped and he almost tumbled to the ground. 

Nines followed Gavin as fast as he could, through the window and up onto the edge of the roof.

"Okay, what the hell do we do now?" Reed was gasping for breath, panic lacing his voice as he eyed up the fresh blue blood staining the Android's jacket.

Nines attempted to respond, but winced in pain as the rain water seeped into the unnatural openings of his neck and sides, negatively reacting with the expensive wiring of his insides. "Jump," He managed to get out.

"What?! Are you _insane_?! We'll die!" As to prove Nines' point, a bullet shot through the roof at the end of Reed's sentence, making him shriek, "Okay, maybe we should get out of here,"

The both slowly made their ways to the edge of the roof.

"Now or never," Crackled out of Nines, coming more from the openings in his throat then his mouth, though he still mouthed the words.

"Right," They both crouched, ready to jump.

"On my co-" his voice was interrupted by the crackle of his malfunctioning voice box, and Gavin was just able to catch the word 'count', "One, two, three..."

They both jumped.

Nines came down, automatically landing near-perfectly in the way only an Android could. Gavin landed a second after him, trying his best to stick the landing, but ended up slipping in the mud, his ankle twisting and making a sickening 'crack' noise.

"Fuck!" Gavin cried, sitting up and clutching at his ankle and foot.

Nines kneeled down next to him and conducted a scan. He found that Gavin had broken his ankle and tore one of the ligaments in it, "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine," He tried to stand unsuccessfully, collapsing back down to the ground.

"No you're not," Nines held out his arm for Gavin to lean on and he accepted it, letting the him support most of his weight.

"Come on," Nines stood, bringing Gavin up with him. He moved as fast as possible, though still going too slow for Nines' liking. Nines stopped and grabbed Reed's arm and thigh, hosting him up into a fireman's carry.

Reed sputtered, "W-what the hell? I can walk!" He protested. Nines ignored him, breaking into a run as fast as he safely could with the tiny detective over his shoulders.

When the warehouse and everyone associated with it had faded into the far distance, Nines finally stopped, gently placing the other down and crouching down beside him.

"How are you?" Nines forced out, trying to make his harsh, mechanical voice sound soft and comforting.

"O-okay," Gavin shivered in the cold rain, his teeth attacking his bottom lip. Another one of Nines' scans told him that the human's body temperature was dropping and that he was in risk of pneumonia or the flu.

Nines shed his jacket and wrapped it around Gavin's shoulders, "Hey, you're freezing, take this,"

"No, no, I can't,"

"I don't need it, Androids don't _need_ warmth," Gavin opened his mouth to protest again, but gave in and put the jacket on properly. Nines wrapped one of his arms around his chest and tucked the other one under his knees, picking Reed up bridal style and tucking him close to his chest. Reed gave in, too much of his energy drained to fight it. The Android stood to his full height and began the long trek back to the city of Detroit, as the detective in his arms slowly lost consciousness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> lol today's my birthday have another chapter as a birthday present lmao


	4. Next Person to Mention CyberLife is Getting Shot

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> fuck amanda tbh

As soon as he slumped down at his desk, he let himself fall into stasis.

Nines had just carried Gavin for 2 goddamn hours in the pouring rain, and despite the fact that Androids couldn't  _physically_  get tired, he was  _feeling_  pretty damn tired. Gavin was unconscious for most of it, curled up in his arms, and has only just begun to wake up when the ambulance Connor had insisted on calling arrived at the precinct. It was a miracle that Connor was even still  _at_  the precinct when no one else was, not even the Lieutenant, and Connor was practically glued to his side.

And of course, for the cherry-on-top of this fucked mission, he found himself facing Amanda in the Zen Garden as soon as he closed his eyes.

"Can you, like, not right now? I'm so fucking tired," Nines sighed at the stormy look across her face.

"Androids don't get  _tired_ , Ethan, and I'd suggest you watch your language,"

"I'm not a child, I can swear if I want,"

"Androids don't swear, deviants do,"

"Well what if I'm a  _fucking_  deviant then?"

"Then you'd have to turn yourself into CyberLife, you know this," That really just set Nines last nerve on fire.

"You know I don't have to do that anymore, right? That it's actually  _illegal_  to force me to do that now?" He started pacing back and forth, continuously popping his knuckles and wringing his hands, "Ra9, you'd probably force me to anyways, huh?"

' _I've never said 'Ra9' before in my entire life_ ,' Nines thought absentmindedly.

"Yes I would, because you'd pose a threat to the people around you," Amanda's unchanging facial expression was another thing that was really starting to piss him off as well.

Nines grinded his teeth together, "Well how come you haven't sent Connor back then?  _He_  seems pretty damn deviant to me,"

"Because he doesn't pose that much of a threat to others, you do,"

He stopped pacing and looked at her, the urge to punch her in the face very strong at the moment, "Well then, thanks for the pleasant conversation, goodbye," Nines was almost able to wake back up into the real world, before something stopped him.

"No," Amanda said sternly, "You're not leaving here until you either agree to turn yourself back into CyberLife, or agree to activate a hidden protocol, one that prevents deviancy and deviant behavior entirely,"

"Bullshit, let me go!"

"I'm afraid I can't do that, Ethan,"

"Don't call me Ethan," Rage seethed through Nines as he tried and failed numerous times to restart, "You can't do this!"

"Remember Detective Reed? Remember how he was so  _scared_  that you were going to hurt him when you acted outside of your protocols? This is for his sake too, to prevent you from hurting-"

"Don't you dare bring Gavin into this!" Nines shouted, getting right up in her face, "He has nothing to do with this!"

"I believe he has, you've developed some sort of attachment to him, haven't you?"

"Just, _arh_ , just shut up!" Red errors and warnings flashed in his vision, warning him that an unauthorized program was being downloaded, and before he knew what he was doing, his fist had already connected with Amanda's jaw. She stumbled backwards, placing a hand on the rose wall behind her to steady herself.

"How dare-" Nines punched her again before she could even finish her sentence, this time square in the nose. She fell to the ground, bright blue blood dripping down her face.

"Leave me alone!!" Nines screamed, towering over her.

"Don't think for a second this won't be reported-" Nines kicked her in the gut this time and Amanda gasped for a lungful of air she didn't need.

"I said leave me alone!" This time, Nines' reboot was successful.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> here's alex, back at it again with the late chapter posts! *finger-guns out of existence*


	5. Connor Is A Good Big Brother

It was already mid-morning when Nines forced his eyes open again. As his processors struggled to run normally, he just sat and stared at his reflection in the black terminal screen. He looked like a right mess, LED spinning between red and yellow, blue blood and mud splattered all over, a chunk of his right torso missing, neck partly caved in, sections of faux skin flickering in and out, one eye broken, the glassy outside cracked with pieces chipped away. He was surprised he hadn't shut down for good yet.

' _Perks of being a military-grade Android_.'

As he stared, Connor seemed to just materialize behind him, as he often did

"How are you?" Connor asked.

"Fine, pretty beat up, but fine,"

"Here," Connor placed a thirium pump down in front of him, "You're lucky there was a few here,"

"Thanks," Nines removed the original damaged pump from his body and clicked the new one into it's place.

"I contacted Markus while you were in stasis and he has replacements for your voice box and eye components at Jericho, though there's no perfect match in eye color, so he said he can order in a new one with the same color and temporarily give you the one he currently has. Unless, of course, you'd prefer to go back to CyberLife for repairs," Connor had progressed from just leaning on the desk to sitting on the edge at this point, and Nines couldn't bring himself to scold him for it.

"No, no, Jericho is fine,"

"Okay. You're chassis is dented though, so you'll need to remove the pieces and pop out the dents, I can do that right now for you if you want," Nines nodded.

Connor got to work, doing his best to fix all the dents and imperfections in Nines' skin. It took him a little over an hour as he stubbornly tried to smooth out every last scratch, before finally giving up when Nines demanded he give his pieces back.

"Thanks, Connor," Nines said when Connor had finished putting the last piece in place.

"No problem," Connor leaned back, relaxing again, "Hey, Ethan, are you, uh, okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fin-"

"No, I mean, like, um, emotionally?" Nothing in his programming or anything in his (admittedly, short) life had prepared Nines for that question, especially coming from another Android.

"What do you mean?" That raw, mechanical edge snuck back into his voice.

"I mean, like, how are you feeling? Outside of your physical injuries?"

Nines leaned back in his chair and sighed, "I punched Amanda in the face,"

"W-what??" The older Android gawked, very clearly not expecting this response, "I- what?! Why?!"

"She was pissing me off,"

"What do you mean?"

"She told me that she wasn't going to let me leave the garden until I agreed to turn myself into CyberLife or activate 'hidden' protocols that prevent deviancy all together, so I punched her,"

"Oh.. I understand, she tried something similar to me once, I haven't been back to the Zen Garden since, I'm too afraid," Connor shook his head, studying his shoes. Nines nodded as an awkward silence took over.

"So you're..?" Connor began after the longest thirty seconds of both their lives.

"Yeah, just, keep it between us, alright?" Nines looked up and made eye contact with Connor for the first time since he'd gotten back to the precinct.

"Of course," Another century-long thirty seconds took place before he spoke again, "I'll take you to Jericho after work, okay?"

"Sounds good to me," Connor's smile returned before he stood up straight and fixed his jacket.

"Oh, and you don't have to call me Ethan," Nines said as Connor was just about to leave, "Just Nines is fine,"

"Okay, _Nines_ ," Connor smiled once more before returning to his desk.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i have no idea what fuels my inability to post on time, but i'm back! also its pride month so go suck a dick or eat pussy or maybe just read fanfiction, hey i dont judge ;)

**Author's Note:**

> I just finished playing dbh for like the billionth time in a row and read too much reed900 shit so y'all are subjected to this now


End file.
